The Commission is reportedly planning to establish a new EU-wide forest management certification scheme, according to the draft of the future EU forest strategy, due at the end of July.
“The Commission will [...] develop criteria for a harmonised “closer-to-nature” voluntary certification scheme, so that the most biodiversity friendly management practices could benefit from an EU quality label”, says the draft document obtained by EUROPE.
The institution also plans to define “additional indicators” as well as “thresholds” or “ranges” for sustainable forest management, including forest ecosystem health, biodiversity and climate objectives. These indicators will be included in the future legislative proposal on EU forest planning and monitoring.
According to the draft, this legislative proposal will aim to “ensure a harmonised EU forest monitoring, data collection and reporting system and coordinated and strategic EU forest planning”.
These proposals were not well received by the forestry sector.
In a joint statement, 14 organisations stressed that there is “no ‘one-size-fits-all’ way to manage forests”, given their diversity, while insisting on the need to respect national and regional legislation in this area. They went on to say: “Setting a new legal framework that would include a coordinated forest planning and management tool at EU level or setting EU indicators and thresholds for sustainable forest management would (...) have a strong impact on the sustainable management of EU forests”.
By the end of 2021, the Commission also wants to agree on a common definition of primary and old-growth forests and the “strict protection regime”. To this end, member states should urgently commit to completing the mapping and monitoring of these forests, ensuring that they do not deteriorate before starting to apply the protection regime, the document says.
The institution also intends to propose a “legally binding instrument” for the restoration of ecosystems, including forest ecosystems, and to develop guidelines on afforestation and forest restoration respecting biodiversity.
In order to encourage long-term carbon storage in construction products, the Commission also seems to want to establish a methodology to quantify the climate benefits of wood construction products and other construction materials.
The draft also recalls the target of planting at least 3 billion additional trees in the EU by 2030 - set out in the EU Biodiversity Strategy - and includes a roadmap setting out clear criteria for planting, counting and monitoring trees to ensure that this commitment is met.
Finally, it should be noted that the document reaffirms the Commission's intention to adopt a legislative proposal to ensure that products sold on the EU market, including imports, do not contribute to global deforestation.
NGOs not convinced
Speaking to EUROPE, Thomas Waitz MEP (Greens/EFA, Austria) seemed relatively satisfied with the proposals in the draft: “The leaked version of the Forest Strategy shows that the European Commission has realised that forests are not only CO2 sinks”.
Mr Waitz remains cautious, however, as this is only a draft document: “It remains to be seen whether the forestry lobby will manage to work in some weakening measures before publication”.
For its part, the NGO coalition Forest Defenders Alliance has been quite critical of the Commission's plans. “The main problem with the draft is the credulity with which it continues to treat the concept of the bioeconomy as a means of climate mitigation, failing to recognize the fundamental incompatibility of achieving an ‘extraordinary and urgent increase in the net annual forest increment’ while increasing forest exploitation”, the organisations say in an analysis of the document.
See the draft document: https://bit.ly/2TcaMJ2; the forest sector statement: https://bit.ly/3A8SFV2 and the Forest Defenders Alliance analysis: https://bit.ly/3xZY7HT (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)